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The Fall of the House of Usher is definitely a
piece written in Poe's usual style; a dark foreboding tale of death and
insanity filled with imagery, allusion, and hidden meaning. It uses secondary meanings
and underlying themes to show his beliefs and theories without actually
addressing them. It convinces us without letting us know we're being convinced,
and at the same time makes his complex thoughts relatively clear.
On the literal level the story is about a man (the narrator) visiting his
boyhood friend who is suffering from “acuteness of the senses”. His friend,
Roderick Usher, sent for him in hopes that his friend might afford him solace.
Though his mental problems were a large part of his sorrow, most of it was due
to his sister's illness. Much of the narrator's time at The House of Usher was
spent reading philosophical books with Usher,
apparently a great hobby of them both. One evening Usher came to the narrator
and informed him “that the lady Madeline [Usher's sister] was no more.” He also
informed him of his intentions of keeping her corpse for a fortnight in one of
the many vaults in the house. Having no wish to oppose his wishes, the narrator
helps him entomb the body at Usher's request. The mood in the house has
worsened, and Usher is no longer himself. The narrator finds him ranting about
the storm, and he explains to him its only a natural phenomenon, and turns to
their earlier hobby of reading to distract him. He chooses the Mad Trist, which
is apparently a story completely created by Poe (and is definitely in his
style). It is a story of a Hero, Ethelred, who forcibly enters the home of a
hermit and finds a dragon in his place. During his telling of the story, the
narrator hears noises but dismisses them as coincidence. As he continued the
sounds began to get louder, and eventually Usher speaks, “yes, I hear it, and
have heard it ... We have put her living in the tomb!” At this point the reader
still thinks Usher is mad and is hearing his sister in death (as did the
character in The Tell Tale Heart), but soon that theory is disproven when the
lady Madeline does indeed still live and enters the room killing her brother.
The narrator flees at the sight of this and soon after the House of Usher
collapses.
Another use of upper current meanings in Poe's tale is in the many stories the
two read. They seem to suggest a theme of an evil presence. They are mostly
based on topics like death, heaven and hell, and similar philosophical works.
These stories, and the poem as well, only reinforce the situation Usher is
trying to escape from. Everything the narrator does in attempt to solace him
only reaffirm the truth that Usher probably knew
deep down, there was no way he could escape his troubles.
Poe had a very interesting cosmology, and it can be seen hidden in the story.
There are two main beliefs in Poe's cosmology, the first is that, “[the
universe] has come about through God's breaking-up of His original unity, and
His self-radiation into space.” (181) This theory is symbolically shown in the
actual House of Usher itself. The narrator remarks that “there appeared to be a
wild inconsistency between its still
perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual
stones.” (208) This analogy places the house as the caretaker or protector of
the people in it, and the individual stones as the separate pieces of god.
There is one other important theory in Poe's cosmology. According to the text
“God, in creating the universe, fragmented Himself into His creatures”. (181)
This thought is emphasized in the story by the use of the term “House of
Usher”. This term refers to “both the family and the family mansion.” (208)
Both parts are one, the house and the family (or according to the analogy, god
and all of us).
This story gives us a way to understand Poe's complicated view of the universe
without us even being aware he's doing it. It explains ungraspable concepts and
ideas, and gives them physical forms. This way we can better understand how the
different parts of his belief interact with each other. And looking at the
parts as a whole, with the help of Poe's many analogies, his beliefs are very
clear and very convincing.